Someone was kicking him.
"Nick, get up, it's time to go."
Nick groaned and stretched, rubbing at his eyes. He ran a hand over the stubble on his face.
"Already?" he complained, looking up at Coach. "I hardly got any sleep!"
"Nick, you got plenty-a sleep," Ellis said. "You were out fer eight hours, at least."
"Oh yeah? Then why is it still dark out?" Nick demanded, pointing at the night sky.
Ellis shrugged. "'s been like that fer a while now. Hasn't changed a bit."
"Great," Nick muttered, getting to his feet and dusting his clothes off. "Wandering through a zombie-infested amusement park at night. Sounds fan-tastic."
"Come on, Grandpa Nick, don't be like that," Rochelle teased, her axe resting over her shoulder. "It could be fun, once we take care of the zombies."
"Yeah, it'll be a blast, Ellis can win you prizes and everything!" Nick replied sarcastically. "Won't that be a hoot, Ellis? Sounds like a fine good time!"
"Sure does!" Ellis agreed enthusiastically, completely missing Nick's sarcasm.
"Ok," Nick announced as Ellis kicked open the safe room door and hurried out into the park on his own, "I would just like to say that I am not keeping an eye on him. I hate babysitting."
"He's just excited, Nick," Rochelle explained as the rest of the group followed after Ellis. "He really likes this place."
"If this is the most exciting thing Savannah has to offer, then just shoot me now," Nick replied.
"Man, just give Whispering Oaks a chance, Nick," Coach insisted. "I know it's deserted, but you might find something to enjoy."
"I really doubt they have slot machines in amusement parks, Coach."
Coach laughed. "There's a Tunnel of Love. Probably broken, but still."
"What, you want me to share a boat with you or something? I don't think there'd be enough room."
"Shut up and get yo' ass movin', Nicolas!"
"Tunnel of Love, huh?" Rochelle spoke up. "In my neighborhood, all we had was the Underpass of Unwanted Advances."
Coach and Nick chuckled.
"Bet you were there a lot," Nick said, smirking. "Driving those greasy cue ball bikers wild."
"Oh yeah, you know me," Rochelle laughed. "Just getting it twenty-"
"Guys, hurry up!" Ellis pleaded. He was bouncing anxiously in front of a shooting range.
"Come on, before he pees," Nick said, and the three jogged over to him.
"Ok, you three cover me while I shoot these here targets," Ellis instructed, picking up his machine gun.
"What?" Nick said incredulously.
"Let the boy have his fun, it's probably the last chance he'll get," Coach told him.
"This is some bullshit. Pint-size gets to play games while we're fighting for our lives?"
"If I win sumthin', I'll give it to you, Ro," Ellis called over his shoulder as he pressed the button to begin the game.
"Only if it's a stuffed animal," she replied. "I don't like those tacky things you get sometimes."
"Right, stuffed animals aren't tacky," Nick commented, rolling his eyes.
"Arright, Ro, wish me luck!" Ellis crowed as the targets began to whiz by. "Not like I need it or anythin'."
Rochelle giggled but grew serious as a Horde swarmed toward them. The three of them used their melee weapons to dispatch the multiple Infected as the game's music blared across the empty park, adding a soundtrack that didn't fit at all. As Ellis carefully hit target after target, wracking up points, Nick maneuvered so he was right behind the boy and elbowed him in the back.
"Ow!"
"Oops, sorry, Ellis. Dang recoil."
"Nick, yer usin' a crowbar."
"…it threw me off balance."
"Uh huh."
The game buzzed to an end as the last few Infected were taken care of. Everyone looked over in surprise as a loud victory chord played and Ellis's score flashed. A small red metal box that no one had noticed swung open. Ellis dashed over to view his prize and the rest of the group trailed after him.
Please let it be the ugliest thing Ro's ever seen, Nick thought. Let it be so hideous that she just spews all over the ground in disgust.
Ellis let out a cry of joy, and Nick's heart sank.
"Guys, you won't believe this! Look what I won!" he exclaimed, holding up his prize.
It was hideous. And it was tacky. Nick snuck a glance at Ro and saw that she was trying not to grimace at it.
"It's…something, all right," she said finally.
"It's Gnome Chomski!" Ellis laughed.
"I don't know which is worse, the fact that the hideous lawn gnome has an actual name, or that you know what its name is," Nick said, shaking his head. "No, wait, you knowing its name is definitely worse."
"This is probably the last one left on the entire planet," Ellis declared, clutching it possessively. "I gotta have it. Sorry, Ro."
Rochelle started to grin broadly in relief, then remembered herself and tried to look disappointed. "I understand, Ellis."
Coach laughed. "Boy, that'll be worth a shitload-a money one day, when the world's not full-a zombies."
Ellis clutched the gnome tighter to his body and stared at Coach in horror.
"I wouldn't sell this!" he cried. "This is a object-a sentiment, now!"
"What, so it's comin' with us?" Nick asked.
"Yup," Ellis nodded, walking ahead.
"Great," Nick sighed in irritation. "Now only three of us are going to be armed."
"We can handle it," Coach replied, sounding confident.
They picked up some ammo from a stack that was sitting on a nearby picnic table (Nick didn't know how it got there and didn't really care at the moment). Two guns rested next to the pile, and Nick swapped his machine gun for a sniper rifle before moving on.
Past a lot of deserted food stalls ("These signs are makin' me hungry," Coach complained) and through a storage area, they arrived at a cotton candy booth.
"Look, guys! Kiddieland!" Ellis shouted hysterically, running toward the sign. He was still clutching the gnome as if it were his newborn child.
"Sometimes it feels like we're babysitting, don't it?" Coach said to Rochelle. She nodded.
"Well, I'm glad we made it…oh, what the hell…YEAH, KIDDIELAND!" she shouted, punching a fist in the air.
"No, no no no no no," Nick interrupted, putting a hand over her mouth. "We do not need another Ellis."
"Lighten up, fancy man," she laughed. "I was just trying to boost our mood."
"Well you're encouraging him, don't do that," Nick replied. "He's bad enough as it is. I'm sure he only gets worse with some attention."
"Hey, Ellis!" Coach called. "They have a cotton candy machine over here!"
"What?" Ellis yelled, sprinting back to the rest of the group. "They have a god dang cotton candy machine right outside Kiddieland!? Ar-RIGHT! Fire it up, Coach!"
"Oh hell no," Nick began immediately. "That thing'll make a lotta noise, and-"
"Oh hell yes," Coach cut him off, switching the machine on.
It rumbled to life and began whirring. Coach and Ellis conferred with each other and poked around until finally some pink wisps began to form. Nick looked through the scope on his rifle and picked off the Infected in the distance. There were quite a few. His clip ran out, and he reached for another, only to have one handed to him. He looked down.
"Here, gramps," Rochelle smiled. "Cotton candy'll probably taste like poison to you, anyway."
"Damn right," he muttered, but he sort of wanted some. "Anyway, no time for that sugary garbage. I'm the only one keeping a lookout so we don't get ambushed."
A Spitter trilled somewhere. Everyone looked around.
"Oh man, keep her away from the cotton candy!" Ellis warned. "She will ruin the shit out of it!"
Nick spotted her by one of the kiddie rides off in the distance. He lined up the shot and pulled the trigger. Her grotesque corpse fell backwards, the acid puddle underneath her clearly visible even this far away.
"Good job, Nick!" Coach praised. "Here. You get the first."
Nick made a face as Coach handed the spun sugar to him. "Thanks."
"I'd better share it with you," Rochelle said, stealing a piece. "You look like you won't enjoy it."
"Oh aren't you selfless?" Nick smirked.
"Of course! I'm just looking out for you!" she replied, smiling.
Nick tore off about half of the cotton candy and then held the cone out to her.
"No thanks, it tastes much better when it's stolen," she explained.
"Ro, we did steal it. We just made some and are eating it without paying for it," he pointed out.
"No, I mean-"
"Oh, you mean only the cotton candy I want for myself tastes good," he teased.
"Exactly."
"Too bad, take this."
"Fine."
"Mm-MM! Cotton candy, you are the king of foods!" Coach declared, happily devouring it.
"My God, nothing'll ever taste as good as this," Ellis agreed.
Coach made Ellis and himself another serving each, and then turned off the machine. Nick looked at his sticky hands unhappily.
"This is the part I always hate," he muttered to himself.
He looked at Rochelle, who was wiping her hands on her jeans.
"Hey, Ro."
She looked up at him.
He grinned and raised his hands. "Wanna lick my fingers clean?"
"Ugh," she groaned, looking sick. "Nick, you've been barfed on, drenched in sewer water, and you've touched countless germ-y things. No way in hell that's happening."
He just laughed at her and headed back into the storage place they had been through. He located a sink in one of the back rooms and cleaned his hands. On his way out, something lying on the floor in one of the rooms caught his eye.
"Hey look, this was made for you," Nick said to Rochelle, holding up a pink stuffed elephant. "It's pink, like your shirt."
"Why does that mean it was made for me?" she asked. "I think it's better for you. Aren't pink elephants what you see after you drink too much?"
"That was in Dumbo."
"So?"
"Oh man, I love that movie!" Ellis cried, clutching his precious gnome again. "That song gave me nightmares, though. This one time--oh wait, Kiddieland!"
Nick sighed and dropped the elephant to the ground. "I thought chicks liked this shit."
Rochelle shrugged and hurried after Ellis. Nick and Coach brought up the rear. They had just passed under the Kiddieland sign and begun to head towards a safe house sign when an angry roar alerted them to a Tank. The ground began to quake immediately as the beast thundered toward them.
"It's wreckin' the rides!" Ellis screamed.
"Boy, there's no time for that! Just shoot it!" Coach yelled.
The four split up and headed in different directions as the Tank gave chase, focusing on Ellis. Nick spotted a Molotov nearby and picked it up, tossing it at the Tank. It burst on impact and lit the behemoth up, which only seemed to make it move faster.
"Oh great goddamn job, Nick!" Ellis yelled angrily, squeezing Gnome Chomski to his breast and running for his life. "You only made it go faster!"
"We're trying to kill it, all right?" Nick yelled back.
The Tank switched its focus onto Nick, who immediately ran backwards while trying to reload.
"Shitshitshitshit!" he cursed, fumbling with his weapon.
The Tank quickly caught up and backhanded him, sending Nick flying into one of the rides.
"AGGH!" he screamed as he landed on his back, temporarily winded. He shook himself and clambered back up to his feet as the Tank began to reach backhanding range again.
Before it could take another swing, it slowly fell forward, dead. Rochelle smiled and reloaded her gun.
"Nice shot, Ace!" Nick praised, dusting the front of his suit off.
"That Molotov helped," she shrugged modestly, but she looked proud.
"Here, Nick, take my pills," Ellis said, shoving them into Nick's hands. "I need to shed some equipment anyway."
"So you can run faster?" Nick snorted. "I can't believe you didn't let go of that thing when we were fighting a Tank."
"Not even a Witch could come between me and this gnome, Nick."
The sound of a Witch crying was suddenly heard.
"That's it, Ellis is cursed," Nick declared.
Coach dealt with the Witch by sneaking up and chainsawing it from behind ("Now that is how you do it!" Nick declared) and they entered a building with some ammo, guns, a medical cabinet, some stairs, and a ladder leading to the roof. Ellis and Nick took some extra pills and everyone took more ammo.
"Guess we're going up top," Rochelle said, staring up at the ladder.
"Be careful," Coach warned. "There could be zombies up there."
Rochelle climbed up first, followed by Nick, then Ellis, and finally Coach. There were a few stragglers on the roof, but Nick easily picked them off. A Charger's unintelligible mutterings came from somewhere down on the ground below. The group carefully climbed to the top of a giant slide and looked down. The Charger charged up the stairs and grabbed Ellis, scattering the rest of them. It began slamming him repeatedly into the ground. Gnome Chomski rolled to a stop at Nick's feet, and the gambler was tempted to punt it down the slide. Instead, Rochelle and he swung away with their axe and crowbar and soon killed the Charger. Ellis scrambled to his feet.
"Oh mah gawd, oh mah gawd, where it is?" he asked, looking around everywhere.
Rochelle picked up the ugly gnome and held it out to him. "This?"
"No, damnit, Rochelle, throw it down the slide!" Nick whispered.
"Ro, I can't thank you enough!" Ellis cried, happily taking it from her. "I thought I'd lost it!"
"If only we were so lucky," Nick sighed.
"Come on, y'all, I see another safe house sign," Coach said, pointing to some stairs.
They hurried to the stairs and past a room with some ammo and another med cabinet. A carousel lay below them, but unless they turned on the power and started it, their path to the safe house was blocked. They shot the Infected down below and jumped down.
"A fenced-in carousel? Is this where they took child prisoners on day trips?" Nick asked sarcastically, looking at the carousel.
"I like it," Ellis said.
"Uh oh," Nick continued, ignoring Ellis. "Rochelle, I've got some bad news."
"What?" she asked, walking over to see what he was looking at.
It was a height sign with Mr. Peanut (Nick did not like that little peanut man) that said anyone fewer than forty-eight inches was not allowed on the ride.
"Sorry, Ro, you gotta be this tall to ride. It was nice knowin' ya," he grinned.
"Ha ha, funny guy," she said, rolling her eyes.
"We're gonna have to turn this on if we want to continue," Coach noted.
"I bet it'll make a shit-ton of noise, too," Nick added.
"You guys ready?" Coach asked. "We'll have to haul ass to the safe house without stopping."
Everyone nodded that they were ready to run, and Coach turned it on.
"Here they come!" Nick yelled as the Horde screamed.
The gate slowly slid open in an absolutely painful way. Nick wanted to shove it the fuck out of the way and get going, but no, it was taking its sweet time. Goddamn shithole amusement park rides. Thankfully no Infected had neared them yet.
When the gate had opened just enough for Nick to force himself through, he did just that and took off running for the safe house, swinging his crowbar at any incoming Infected.
"Safe house up ahead in the Tunnel of Love!" Coach yelled.
"Tunnel of Love? Jesus Christ!" Nick complained, sprinting towards it.
He made it first, followed a short while later by Ellis, and then Coach. Rochelle had been swarmed by the seemingly never ending amount of Infected rushing from all directions. At least twenty were punching and kicking at her, and she was on the ground in no time.
Nick held his hand out to Coach. "Give me the chainsaw."
Coach handed it over and watched as Nick fired it up. "I'll give you cover fire."
Nick ran towards the crowd Rochelle was engulfed in, swinging the chainsaw back and forth in front of himself as he charged (wouldn't it just be too awful if he tripped and landed on the blade before he even got to her? He tried not to think about it). He cut easily through the Horde and, reaching down, grabbed Rochelle's hand. He yanked up, but she was slow in getting to her feet.
"Come on, come on, we don't have time for this, get up!" he urged.
When she was standing he put her arm across his shoulders and half-carried, half-ran with her to the safe room. Coach slammed the door behind them as more Infected appeared and gave chase. Nick and Rochelle collapsed onto the floor, panting.
"You sure had us worried there, Ro," Ellis said nervously.
"You ok, Ro?" Coach asked, looking concerned.
She waved her hand at him. "I'm fine."
Nick looked at her doubtfully. She had taken too long to stand up to be "fine".
"You sure?" Coach pressed.
She nodded.
"All right. I'll take first watch. You guys get some sleep," Coach instructed.
Ellis carefully set down his gnome and then lay down beside it, quickly falling asleep. Rochelle looked over at Nick, who was still looking at her.
"What?" she said, uncomfortable.
Nick stood up and picked up one of the medkits on the table before sitting back down next to her.
"Let Doctor Nick patch you up," Nick told her, taking out gauze.
"You make one joke about your bedside manner and I'm kicking your ass," Rochelle warned.
"Fine, fine," Nick agreed, adding in a lower voice, "Spoilsport."
Rochelle, like the rest of them, had what seemed to be permanent battle scars. While Nick had a cut on his forehead and two near his shoulder bone, she had a large purple bruise on her upper arm that refused to fade. Nick wondered how she got it. The scrape on her cheek seemed to be permanent, too. He couldn't help but worry sometimes. She was so tiny.
He remembered how he had freaked the fuck out the first time a Charger grabbed her, although he rationalized it all away later. Seeing that lopsided monstrosity slamming her body into the ground over and over had sent him into a near-blind panic. He had swung and flailed at the thing until it keeled over dead and then he had knelt next to her, thinking she was dead for sure, pounded into oblivion. But she had just sat up, shaken and a little scared, but in one piece. And alive. She had even laughed and made some stupid joke while Nick just stood there staring in numb relief. That was when he realized she was a helluva lot tougher than she looked. Still, the worry remained.
Nick finished applying the last piece of gauze and Rochelle leaned back and laid her head against the wall, breathing a sigh of relief.
"Much better," she muttered.
They sat next to each other quietly until Rochelle looked over at him with a smirk.
"You better not try anything once we're out there in the Tunnel of Love, Nick," she warned. "I'm still infatuated with that Francis guy."
Nick coolly looked back at her. "What made you think I was going to?"
She looked a little bit disappointed. "You usually do. And you had this funny look on your face, like you were thinking of something."
"Oh, I was thinking of something, all right," Nick replied, smiling.
"Yeah?" she grinned. "What?"
"That chick, Zoey. Goddamn she was fine!"
Rochelle's grin immediately disappeared and she scowled at him. "She's way out of your league."
"I dunno, she didn't go for Ellis, so I'm her only other choice!"
"I guess you're not counting Louis or Francis, then."
"Rochelle, please. Like you have to ask."
"So tell me, what's it like being so arrogant all the time?"
"What can I say? I'm a handsome man."
Rochelle rolled her eyes and got up. "I'm going to sleep."
She lay down next to Ellis, who sleepily turned over and slung an arm over her. She closed her eyes without even bothering to move Ellis's arm. No worries, Nick would do it for her. Ro cuddled in a little more and then fell asleep. Nick felt that wounded pride feeling bubbling up and scowled. Nevermind, he would just tear that kid's goddamn arm right off instead.
Coach laughed from his post by the door, startling Nick out of his thoughts.
"What?" he asked.
"That girl is messin' up yo' pokerface somethin' awful!" Coach said, grinning and shaking his head.
"Whatever." Nick felt his face burning a little. "I'm going to sleep."
I have a goddamn good pokerface, he thought as he drifted off. Coach is just high on that cotton candy. NO ONE knows what I'm thinking. I'm just that good…
Finally, the three were asleep. Rochelle turned over, and Ellis's arm slipped off her and fell to the floor.
Holy shit, another two chapters written. I need to edit the most recent one, though, I don't like the dialogue after a certain point.
Also I'm noticing that there is a severe lack of Infected/Horde/Special Infected attacks. That's probably because I'm more focused on writing the dialogue and trying to get to the end of the chapter. If I actually described each time a Horde/SI attacked in the game, there would be no story but the four trying to get to the safe room and the generic nice shot/safe room up ahead/I hear a Bitch dialogue. So yes, that's the reason for that.